New citizenship test released

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today released a new batch of 100 questions to be used in the test applicants for citizenship will need to pass beginning Oct. 1, 2008.

The test was revamped in order to encourage more civic learning and patriotism, said the agency’s chief of the office of citizenship, Alfonso Aguilar, in a teleconference with reporters this morning.

“The main purpose is to require applicants to study the fundamentals of American democracy,” Aguilar said. “This test is also part of the Bush administration’s effort to promote assimilation.”

Immigrant advocates have raised concerns that the new test will be more difficult than past versions but the pass rate during a pilot testing of the questions was higher by almost 10 percentage points than it was on the older version, Aguilar said.

When questioned on why there were no questions about contributions from Hispanic people to American history, Aguilar said the test was meant to test “landmark moments of American history that affected every single person.”

“It’s not an oversight because we are not developing a test for minority groups,” he said.

Over 6,000 volunteers took part in the pilot program and 92.4 percent passed, he said.

Those who did not pass were given the option of taking the current test a second time around.

The new questions were chosen from 144 that were analyzed during the past year. Some of those questions were reworked because of confusion or problems with language.

To become a U.S. citizen applicants must have lived in the U.S. as a permanent resident for at least five years, demonstrate “good moral character” and demonstrate an attachment to the principles and ideals of the U.S. Constitution.

They must also pass an oral test that includes 10 questions taken from the pool of 100 and a section on reading and writing in English. If an applicant cannot answer at least six of the ten questions correctly, they have one more opportunity to take the test again before being required to reapply.

The cost to apply for a certificate of naturalization recently went up from $400 to $675, including the cost of biometrics, a form of identification through fingerprints and other physical attributes.

Those who apply to take the test before the Oct. 1, 2008, will be given the option to take the current version of the test. Those who apply after the deadline will be required to take the new test.